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Today’s Straits Times carries the news that prices of mooncakes have gone up this year because of a shortage of salted eggs! And the reason for the shortage is this:

1.8 million salted duck eggs rejected, destroyedBETWEEN Jan 1 and July 12 this year, 1.8 million salted duck eggs, or 30 per cent of the total imports here, were rejected and destroyed due to the presence of the carcinogenic dye, Sudan red. Twenty-two exporters from China, Vietnam and Malaysia were also suspended.

Now, amid tougher regulations, every consignment of salted duck eggs imported into Singapore has to be accompanied by a health certificate from the country of origin stating that the eggs have been tested and found to be free from Sudan red.

And on arrival, every consignment is tested again.

Since July 13, all consignments of salted duck eggs have passed undestroyed into the market.

The duck-egg supply crunch is also seen in these AVA figures:

About 292 tonnes of salted duck eggs were imported from July 13 to Sept 6. Yet last year, for two months (August and September) leading up to the mid-Autumn festival in October, some 606 tonnes of salted duck eggs were imported.